Playing Catch Up on March 26th: Danny Choo Presents Chinka

Wow, after all that there has still been quite a bit of news slipping through the cracks lately. I promise that once I get past next weekend, things will start to return to normal. But in the meantime, there is quite a bit of new anime to talk about!

Danny Choo Unveils Chinka: Otaku superblogger Danny Choo has revealed his first foray into anime production with the creation of a production studio, Mirai Fusion, and a series titled Chinka. The story will revolve around a troop of moe firefighters chasing after an arsonist which I gather was only a matter of time, how many professions are there left to be given a moe treatment? That being said, looking at the artwork that’s up so far, I’m forced to believe this just might be crazy enough to work.

Paprika Getting Live Action Treatment? MTV reported yesterday that director Wolfgang Petersen wants to create a live action version of the 2006 movie created by Madhouse and Satoshi Kon, Paprika. Petersen elaborated by saying that he has already submitted a script treatment and that if it accepted the writing of the actual script “will go very fast because the treatment is already very detailed. So I’m very excited about that. I would say it’s on the fast track.”

Crunchyroll Finds Hidden 750K Energy Tank: Crunchyroll sent out a press release yesterday to reveal a new investment being made by TV Tokyo to the tune of almost a million dollars. The press release doesn’t state that this is going to change a thing about the way Crunchyroll streams or acquires content but is more just to help the site develop new technology by furthering their partnership. (full press release below the cut)

And in the New Anime Department: Just because it’s not being announced at Tokyo International Anime Fair doesn’t mean it’s not happening! An anime adaptation has also been announced this week for the mangaShinryaku! Ika Musume and the light novel series Bungaku Shoujo will be getting a 3 episode OVA series along with the already announced movie being produced by Production I.G. The first of the three episodes will hit stores in late June.

San Francisco, Calif. and Tokyo, Japan (March 25, 2010) ­ Crunchyroll, Inc.,
and TV TOKYO CORPORATION (TYO: 9411) announced today the expansion of their
industry-defining content alliance and partnership with the February 2010
conclusion of a $750,000 strategic investment by TV TOKYO into Crunchyroll.

TV TOKYO will continue to provide Crunchyroll with content licenses for
world-class Japanese entertainment, including hits like Naruto Shippuden,
Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee, and many others, and Crunchyroll will continue to
offer premium access to TV TOKYO content under its subscription plan one
hour after its broadcast on TV TOKYO, and free access to TV TOKYO content
one week after its broadcast on TV TOKYO. In addition, both TV TOKYO and
Crunchyroll will continue to explore new business areas and work on mutually
beneficial ways of developing TV TOKYO’s rights business to a global
audience.

TV TOKYO President and Co-CEO Masayuki Shimada said: ³This investment fits
with our three ‘challenge goals’ of cultivating new hits, developing our
rights business, and discovering new revenue areas. Through Crunchyroll now
more than ever before, we will be able to cultivate new programs to a
worldwide audience, strategically plan a global rights business, and
leverage Crunchyroll’s innovation to discover new ways to generate revenue.²

Crunchyroll CEO and Co-Founder Kun Gao said: ³Our vision is to create an
ecosystem for all Japanese rights holders to export their content overseas,
and TV TOKYO has taken a leadership position by being with us from day one.
With this partnership, we formalize our already strong relationship with TV
TOKYO and look forward to building a long-term business together. This is an
historic moment for Crunchyroll, and this solidifies our commitment to
bringing the best in Japanese anime to our millions of fans around the
globe.²

There will be no change to Crunchyroll’s corporate structure, strategic
management or operations as a result of this strategic investment, but TV
TOKYO will have shareholder rights as are customary to typical minority
shareholders. Full terms of the investment agreement were not disclosed.
The February 2010 strategic investment from TV TOKYO is the first half of a
Japanese strategic investment initiative, with negotiations currently
underway with an undisclosed group of major Japanese book publishers for the
second half. More details will be announced shortly on the other parties
involved.